advice on TV antennae

The OP has a New HDTV so no need to get a digital conversion box, Most all HDTV's sets now have a digital tuner in them.
But most differently needs to get the antenna attached to the set.
and IF the Old Antenna was a "All Channel One, meaning not only 2 through 13 but 14 and up no need to get ANY new style antenna at all. No Need to get what some are hyping as Digital Antennas. as long as the old one is a All Channel it can and will pick up ALL digital signals.
My Old RS antenna is 14 Years Old and picks up now WAY more channels then before the switch over.
Before switching over I had at most 5 now I get 12, Yes Twelve, and some of those stations are more then 90 miles away.
Now I also have to say I have and always have had a Signal Power Booster in line coming in from the antenna, and all NEW HD COAX, I say HD COAX because it can handle HD Signals better then the older COAX can, It is rated at 3 GHz. The same COAX size, and double shielded, and the same connectors, as the Satellite companies install for the best HD Signal with little to no signal loss.
I even had to order it on line, as Radio Shack did not even know what in the world i was talking about. LOL.

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Analog as in over 15 years old. It gets UHF and VHF signals, at least it did.

You see it IS just a Buzz word.
Calling these older antennas "analog" ones.
There were at the time called "All Channel Antennas".
Digital is just a Hyped up word to "sell" some folks a NEW Antenna when they did not need a new one at all.(As Long As It Was a "All Channel One") ( VHF/UHF ) Meaning you could get All Channels 2 through 13, and 14 through 88 and beyond. Really the digital channels Start at 13.1 and go up from there.

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My roof-mounted analog antenna didn't work worth a darn for digital. I was getting break-up all the time. I picked-up a digital antenna (looks kind of like a large oven rack mounted upright) and it solved the problem.

I would go ahead and give the existing analog antenna a try, but if you get break-up you should consider a new one.

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Then you MAY not have had that may the Small Prongs. The ones needed for the UHF signal.
You see the old stye antenna I still have getting all digital channels now was the Largest at the time from radio Shack. Counting each side as a single prong. I just went out and counted 76.. 12 each side the Long Prongs, and like 24 on each side making 50 alone,,, just for the UHF side.~!!!
So you see the bigger the older stye is or was, the more of the shorter prongs are on them. UHF for digital signal.
And with just a "Digital" one it has ONLY short prongs and maybe even more then the largest All Channel Antenna of years gone by, or at least more then you had on your old
analog" one.
It ALL depends on Size and the amount of Short Prongs on the older style and how close you are to the different stations you are trying to receive.

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..................You can buy a decent , medium sized antenna from radio Shack for less than $80 ! IF the TV is HDTV it should work without a converter . So , all you need is the External antenna , coax too run from the antenna to the TV , a set of support poles , a bracket too attach the pole(s) too the side of the eve\house , and a second bracket too attach antenna too the pole ! The poles come in 5 and 10 foot sections , and are not expensive . Note , the antenna should be above the roof line of the house so try to mount it on the side facing the most broadcast towers . You , Need too findout from which direction the signals are being transmitted........this is easy to do .....just look around at your neighbors antennas and point yours in the same direction . The little elements should face the direction of transmission ......you can move the antenna around and find the best reception before you screw everything down tiht .
...................Take your time and solicit help from those who already have their external up and are receiving clear pictures . Be a copy cat and it'll work great I'm sure ! , fordy

I've been unable to receive any channels ever since the switch. I was getting 15 before. I have a new HD TV with ATSC/NTSC tuners. I've tried every antenna I could get at Walmart and Radio Shack for up to a little over $100, and could only receive one channel, with only some of them. But I'm basically living in a tin can, a mobile home with a huge metal carport/roof built over the entire thing, plus there are tall trees and lots of wind here.

Someone posted www.antennaweb.org above, and you need to do that first, to figure out exactly what channels are in your range and which direction they're in. It's a color-coded thing, which helps you figure out which antenna you need. The bad thing is, for every channel that's in a different direction, you have to move the antenna, so I've been looking at antennas at this site: http://www.digitalhdsource.com/

According to several people I've talked to (not just the ones at this site), if I get the right antenna and a motorized rotor and mount it on my roof I should be able to get channels from Tulsa, which is 40 miles away, as well as Oklahoma City, which is 85 miles away. But you have to get the right antenna, apparently too strong is just as bad as not strong enough. It's very confusing, at least to me, lol. I haven't quite made up my mind yet, but I think I'm definitely going with one of these. A comparable set-up from Radio Shack was going to cost amost $300, and I can get it from them for around $100.

Not to horn in on your thread, but if anyone has suggestions for me I'd certainly appreciate them. You can PM me if you'd rather. I hope you get your problem worked out and cheaply, lol. Good luck!

Have you tried the amplifier?

Before it, I got one channel ok, but it was as you say, people were telling me it was overpowered - lots of ghosts. Other channels I got in perfect weather, but any issues and they would fade away.

Put the amp on, and get more channels than I used to.

The one strong channel I get comes from the SE, ~40 miles away. This comes in to the side of my antennea.

Most of the chanels come from the NNE 80-95 miles away. All the pros and the web sites mentoned say I can't get these. But I do, they even hold fairly well through average rainfall.

A few channels, after the leaves fall off as it comes through my grove, come from a low-power repeater setup that is 30 miles S of me. These come in the back side of my antennea.

I'd really try an amp as I described above, if you haven't. If you can get a signal at all, even unwatchable, the amp will do a lot to clean it up. Best quality cable is also good as mentioned above.

The problem with a rotor - my TV you can only scan for channels.You cannot add more channels to the list - if you scan, you erasw the old, and scan for viewable channels. So - how do you set up the rotor? Every time you spin it, you'd have to waste 4 minutes doing a new scan....

--->Paul

Hmm, thanks Paul. No one has mentioned that about having to rescan it all the time, don't care much for that idea! Are all TVs like that, not being able to add channels and just having to rescan? I'll have to check mine.

Right now I don't have any antenna at all, took them all back when they wouldn't work, and now I can't remember which one worked the best, lol. I must have tried at least eight or nine. I may have to go get one again and try the amplifier.

The stations 40 miles away are northeast, and the ones 85 miles away are southwest. I've been told I'm more likely to get good reception from the southwest, even though it's further away, do you know why that is? I know I was getting seven analog channels from there with the old rooftop antenna before the switch. Thanks for your help!

P.S. I did use good cable, think it was CAT6, does that sound right?

The antenna on your house is fine, There is nothing magical about digital TV. A tv antenna that worked on the analog TV will work on digital TV's. Most likely the issue with the antenna is the coax from the TV to the TV is old and needs replaced. There also might be an old amplifier inline that is also in need of replacement. Your best bet is to replace the old coax cable, possible add an amplifier and get on with your TV viewing.

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One thing I like about that antennaweb site is that it attempts to take terrain into account. Since we built below the crest of land, the results show one channel. If I move the map location up to the crest, it shows a number of stations.

My point? Taller might be better. If I put up a 50' stick, I could probably get the stations I'd like.

Your problem may be in your settings on the new TV. You may have to choose "off air" as the input rather then "cable" or "AV". Play with the input settings and see what happens.

Most problems with antennas are not the antenna but the cable and connections. Standard antennas,poles and rotors should be a dime a dozen used in many places where cable and satellite dishes are popular.

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That web site said there is none for me....I knew that.

My advice is pay a antenna service to come out and check your antenna.
We have a one of the tower ones, didn't work, everyone kept trying to talk the husband into satellite. He did not want to sign a 2 year contract. Finally got someone out to look at antenna we had - it was a bad power supply. Now we have 19 channels, and very clear picture. As far as I'm concerned best $350 we spent. Plus one of the local channels has an old classics channel, watched Daniel Boone, Dragnet and Adam 12 yesterday

Amplifiers only work if you can receive some signal! At the cabin I started w/ an old VHF antenna and the converter box. Looking at tvfool.com I tried to get signals from 34 miles away, all upper VHF and UHF and after reading about them I bought a UHF only antenna.

I ended up w/ only one channel from a different direction [mountain in the way] but as I scanned for channels I noticed I had some signal on a few others but not enough to lock them in.

$60.00 for a Radio Shack amplifier and I got more channels...then i found out that channel 6 went back to it's old frequency so I only get two major networks and one of those is very finicky depending on the leaves, wind and rain. It usually comes in real well around 5am!

The advice you have recieved is not bad but, YOUR FIRST ACTION SHOULD BE TO ASK THE NEIGHBORS WHAT THEY DO/GET. If you can find a neighbor that gets off the air broadcasts, then you can too. If they all say they have to have cable/satelite, then you do too.

In the beginning TV was broadcast, in analog, on VHF (very high frequency) low (channels 2 to 6) and VHF high (channels 7 to 13). When more channels were needed, the fed opened up the UHF (ultra high frequency) band (channels 14 to 69)to analog TV broadcast. Both are line of sight transmitions so you theoretically have to be able to see the transmitter antenna to get a signal. VHF travels better than UHF so it has a longer range. The earliest antennas recieved only VHF. When UHF debued, new antennas got that frequency as well.

Digital TV has now come in. It is broadcast on UHF frequencies but I think VHF high frequencies have also been allocated to digital TV broadcast. Digital TV is broadcast a different way than analog so you need a tuner that can receive digital signals. This tuner can be a stand alone box (the gov offered everyone a $40 coupon to get one) used with an old TV or it can be built into a new TV (digital TV). Most existing antennas get VHF and UHF frequencies so they work with the new digital broadcasts, provided you have a digital TV tuner. You probably don't need a new antenna.

The fact that your house has an antenna on it means that at some point the residents recieved over the air TV broadcasts. It is probably already pointed at the nearest transmitters. I would hook up the existing antenna and see if you get anything. Check the wire to be sure that the connections are tight and the wire is in good shape.

When digital TV first came out it's range was shorter than analog because they was broadcasting on the UHF frequencies, so many people can't get a signal now. I think some digital channels are now broadcasting on the VHF high frequiencies so the range is longer. Some areas still have analog broadcasts so your old TVs and ones with a signal bypass through the digital box still get these broadcasts.

Rant of the day: Digital TV was supposed to be better but in my case I am too far from a transmitter to get any digital signal and only one channel has seen fit to keep broadcasting in analog so I have gone from 3 channels to 1. Also the digital picture is supposed to be better but a good analog TV with a digital tuner box has a picture that is almost as good without having to buy a new TV. We have been scammed again.

Nicely said, Nimrod. (Never thought I'd type that as a good comment.... )

I'll add a little if I may.

When TV stations were converting from the analog broadcast to the digital broadcast, they ended up having to broadcast both for 6 months or more. But they are only allowed so & so much broadcasting power. And they needed a second channel to broadcast on.....

That 6 month period stretched out to about 2 years in reality. And many stations ended up building new towers and changing the channel & power levels of their broadcast as little as 6 months ago.

So, if you haven't scanned recently, you might not know if you actually get anything.This has been an ongoing burden for the TV stations as well.....

Any station broadcasting on 2-13 had to put their digital broadcast up in the UHF range during the transition. And they were probably using 10% of the 'normal' power. It was as little as 6 months ago that some stations got this sorted out to their 'true' channel, and their full power. So, if you haven't scanned lately, you might be missing some channels.

It takes much less power to broadcast in the 6-13 VHF area, so any station that has that channel number went back to it after the transition was over. It is a better signal, reaches farther, and takes less power. So _any_ station in those umbers has returned to VHF broadcasting.

Now, the liars that said they were selling new digital antenneas were selling you a UHF antennea that does not get the channels 6-13. So, they talked you into throwing away your perfectly good antennea, and replacing it with their new antennea that is garenteed to get you less channels.

It was the confusing period when they were making the transition from analog to digital broadcasts where channels were changing back & forth, and changing their power levels, that made this all terrible confusing. And allowed hucksters to mislead people into throwing away good antenneas and replacing with worse antenneas.

Most folks should be getting about the same stations they used to get if they did _not_ mess with their antennea.

What changed was th channels from 2-5, they had to move up to the UHF channels, and could have been lost.

--->Paul

Rambler you are right about the new HDTV's you cannot enter a channel in them. You have to auto scan to lock on to a channel as I found out when I purchased a new Samsung tv several weeks ago.. I still have a digital Sharp tv that I bought after the switch over to digital. The Sharp tv is digital but not HDTV and can be manually programed for channels. I like to do TV Dx'ing early in the morning and am amazed at what I can lock in with my Sharp TV.

Its appears to me that all new HDTV's you cannot program without an auto scan

Bill

Rambler,

Nimrod was a king in the bible. I don't know my bible well enough to know if he was a good king or not but he was an experienced hunter and outdoorsman which is why I adoped his name.

Thanks for the additions to the discussion.